Wolverine & the X-Men 17 – Doop Doop Di Doop

I have said it before that Jason Aaron has the ability to write in various distinct styles. This issue is no different as it is comedic and fun, a pleasant refreshment break from the AvX crossover show. It’s a mammoth task to create side plots to a huge crossover storyline however a few titles this month have been allowed to focus on non-continuity, relationship based or light-hearted issues. This issue is drawn by Michael Allred who is renowned for his classic pop art style and is the creator of Madmen comics. He drew X-Factor in 2001 and its evolution into X-statix where a character called Doop made his first appearance. Doop is a green floating blob seen in the background of the school who speaks a language of his own and has a power set that appears to expand on a daily basis. The issue focuses on who he is and what he does for the school and I think it is great that Allred was brought in for this issue.

Jason Aaron takes a break from his word heavy dialogue on this book and allows quick fire comedic scenes to display the story. The first few pages involve Wolverine, pleading to Doop to join the school, to build the suspense of what he actually can do. There are moments of comedy as Doop gives Wolverine tasks to perform as bribery, including doing a dramatic performance dressed as Cyclops and stabbing himself in the face with his claws! This is the level of outrageousness the book brings and continues as it proceeds to show the many characteristics of Doop. Allred’s art suits this level of humour perfectly as he draws the blob’s exaggerated contorted body shape and facial expressions excellently. His old school style of comic art lends itself to short contained amusing scenes demonstrated by Doop’s antics with Howard the Duck, Sabretooth and the league of Nazi bowlers! He also appears to be a pliable and willing sex toy to all sexes, species and deviants! With art as good as this there is almost no need for any dialogue at all.

How do you begin to describe a character like Doop? Well he looks like Slimer from Ghostbusters and seems to be able to withstand extreme levels of abuse in all forms. He is a lone alien with a sense of humour, an alcohol problem, a large set of perversions and is unable to say no to people. The book spends a few pages questioning what Doop can do coupled with Wolverine being very cagey to explain why he was hired. The teachers that question Doop are then involved in demonstrating his function, making no sense as to why they were asking questions in the first place. It frustrates me a little as the direction of the book sways but I feel I am being over-analytical as the main theme of the book is comedy. This has been achieved successfully with the variety of ridiculous Doop scenarios and excellent artwork of Michael Allred. At the end of the book you are left feeling affection for this strange creature as he is left spent trying to protect the school, fight adversaries, be experimented upon and used for all nature of leisure activities. What a…..blob?!